Bell Let’s Talk at Lakefield College School 2021

Over the past week, LCS students, staff, and faculty took part in #BellLetsTalk initiatives. Our community was primed to acknowledge this important mental health movement thanks to a presentation given in Chapel last week by Fatima Shahbaz ’21, Halle Lawson ‘21, Ella Zegarra Brown ‘22, and Gavin Plunkett ‘21.

“In September 2010, Bell Let’s Talk began a new conversation about Canada’s mental health. At that time, most people were not talking about mental illness. But the numbers spoke volumes about the urgent need for action. Millions of Canadians, including leading personalities, engaged in an open discussion about mental illness, offering new ideas and hope for those who struggle, with numbers growing every year.

As a result, institutions and organizations large and small in every region received new funding for access, care and research from Bell Let’s Talk and from governments and corporations that have joined the cause.

Building on ten years of increased awareness and acceptance around mental health, Bell Let’s Talk is focused on engaging Canadians to take action to create positive change in mental health.

In March 2020, Bell announced the extension of the Bell Let’s Talk mental health initiative for a further 5 years and an increase in Bell’s total funding commitment for Canadian mental health to at least $155 million.” (Bell, 2021). 

On Thursday, dozens of members of the LCS community visited the student-led Jack Chapter table to voice how they promote mental health awareness, acceptance, and action. The students had prepared a variety of activities, including “chatterboxes” designed to guide conversations about mental health, relaxing colouring pages to reduce stress, and fillable speech bubbles created to leave messages of advice and support to the community. 

 

Some of the powerful messages left by LCS students and staff include: